Sai Mahal Shirdi

... the restaurant, only to be saved by 2 waiters the Indian equivalent of batman and robin! At first glance they thought we were mad running away but then got rid of the beast and we carried on eating our delicious curry!... Neither the first or the last monkey that has put us into SVT on this trip!

On our way down from Delhi Jo had her bag pinched from the hotel or on the train- which was a bummer as it had all her valuables in it- thank goodness ...

... is other places we have visited.

The main attraction at the Ajunta caves are murals on the walls and ceilings. The caves were dug out of solid rock between 200 B.C. and 650 A.D. Of the 30 caves, 5 were Buddhist temples, the rest were monasteries. Some are pretty well preserved, while others have caved in or were never complete. The art is beautiful, using subdued colors, primarily yellow and red, to depict the life of the Buddha ...

... in 15 minutes, a ride that would have been twice as long during the day.

Aurangabad is a 45 minute flight away. The only reason a tourist would visit this unappealing city is as a gateway for two World Heritage sites - Ellora Caves and Ajunta Caves. Kerry had arranged a car and driver to pick us up. The first stop was to see "The Boss" and settle our itinerary and pay for the car. The boss is Asoka - who made sure ...

Daulatabad fort is located about 13 KM from Aurangabad on the way to Ellora. This fort has an elaborate defence system comprising of many gates, moat, canons and maze. The Menda (Ram) canon is among the largest canons in India. The dark maze is home to ...

... amp; here is the award. Gaurav’s managerial, as well as acting skills worked with a bash this time.

This awful and rather interesting incident took more than an hour. It reminded me of the great Sidney Lumet Classic: 12 Angry Men. How Henry Fonda—in the movie-- slowly manages to convince everyone that the accused is actually not guilty. However, we didn’t have to convince anyone that we’re not the murderers, but it certainly took the same degree of effort.

... I envelope all the creatures, the movable and immovable world. I am the Controller - the wire-puller of the show of this Universe. I am the mother - origin of all beings - the Harmony of three Gunas, the propeller of all senses, the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer. Nothing will harm him, who turns his attention towards Me, but Maya will lash or whip him who forgets Me. All the insects, ants, the visible, movable and immovable world, is My Body or Form ...

... cuisine and planning where we were headed next. Although our original plan was to head south, we decided to head north into Rajasthan. Heading north meant taking a bus through Ahmedabad on the way to Udaipur in Rajasthan, or heading back to Jalgaon to catch the train. Since we had already been to Jalgaon, we opted to take a sleeper bus from Aurangabad to Ahmedabad, then catching the train to Udaipur. Sleeper buses have all the seats of a normal bus, but they also have bunks ...

... down and so no scaffolding was required. The best cave for me was cave number 10, called Viswakarma or Carpenters (Pic 19-26). It's called this because the ribs in the roof of the cave look like wooden beams. Each rib has a figurine at the end of it and there is a giant Buddha in there as well. Also impressive was the Kailasa Temple with its huge stone elephants and intricately carved central building (Pic 14-18). Some of the caves had bats in them, glad I had the rabies shot (Pic 1).

... embarassed and a little unsure of what to do, the next thing I knew the famous Usher party anthem Yeaaah! was blarring from the speakers. Impressed by the choice of music, I decided to humor the audience. I "poped my colla'" all the way through the song. It turns out the hotel was giving away prizes at the party, and because they either enjoyed my dancing or thought I might have some sort of medical condition (probably the latter) they awarded me with an all ...

It's been a little over a week since the rains unleashed their fury on Mumbai. While the city, slowly but surely, gets itself back together the devastation is hard to believe. Hundreds have died and many have lost everything. I read of stories in the newspaper of people dying of heart attacks when they came home to see all their belongings underwater. As the flood waters subside and Mubaikars begin to pick up lives, it will be ...